


For Someday I'll Return

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Series: Femslash Feb 2019 [8]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus), Reunion, but its been 5 years since it came out (holy shit) so im not sure, if i remember the timeline this is a direct continuation of boo, infirmary, listen theres a lot of confrontation abt the fact tht they are kids and this was war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 10:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17702258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: In secret we met--In silence I grieve,That thy heart could forget,Thy spirit deceive.If I should meet thee,After long years,How should I greet thee?--With silence and tears.Day 8: Dream





	For Someday I'll Return

**Author's Note:**

> god,,, i have wanted to write this fic for over a year!!! and i finally did!!!! im v v proud of it and so excited to share it w yall
> 
> for context, it's a sequel fic to my fic [Nothing With Any Certainty](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11425587) and while i dont think you absolutely HAVE to read tht to get this it Would provide a little bit of context for a few small details
> 
> title from perry como's don't let the stars get in your eyes (tht whole song,,, god it was perfect for this fic just go listen to it) and the summary is from george gordon byron's "when we two parted"

Drew tucks her hair behind her ears, a nervous, young habit, and continues on her way over to the infirmary. It had taken a pile-up of insistence from her siblings, but she'd finally agreed that the burns up her arm needed tending that would best be dealt with by a professional.

Or as professional as traumatized teenagers could get.

She steps over the threshold and is instantly smacked with the bitter scent of blood that sent even her iron-clad will wavering. But she keeps her eyes forward, her chin up, and her tears firmly in her face. She can't- not right now.

There were people bustling all around her, injured or searching or lost, though admittedly, all those states looked the same to her at this point. Her ears were still ringing too loud and her body still wound too tight for her to discern the finer nuances of the human expression as they were.

"Do you need help?"

Drew doesn't know the girls name, but she knows her face, knows she's one of Apollo's troupe of misfit toys, and follows her as she guides.

"I have a patient, but if you'll wait here, I'll send someone over to look at that, okay? I know you must be in a lot of pain, but try not to touch it."

The funny thing is, Drew doesn't really feel the pain anymore. 

She's always felt things so much that they seem to override themselves and send her into apathetic fuge states, but now there's absolutely nothing. But she hasn't really felt much since she got back, anyway. Or she did, but she's all out of emotion now, all out of fight. Today was the straw that broke the camels back and the pain that made her close off forever.

"Drew?" 

She hadn't even realized her head had dropped, but it picks itself up anyhow.

"Will," she replies, holding her arm out for him. Quick inspection, methodical, she wants to be done, wants to be anywhere but here where she can feel the, Hades forgive her and all that jazz, soggy hand of death patting them all down.

"How- how did you guys fare?" 

She shakes her head. That's not a question she'll be answering for a long, long time. 

"Oh, um, okay." He takes her arm in his hands gingerly, turning it this way and that before he makes his prognosis to himself and starts silently in on his treatment.

He waits until he's wrapping the bandages around her arm before he seeks out eye contact. Not that she offers much, her eyes locked somewhere off to the side of him, shadowed over, almost catatonic if it weren't for the pain of them.

He waits until he's completely done before he asks.

"We have some, uh, some worse off- some kids in need. And it would, I think maybe some charmspeak might do them, do all of us, some good. Just to calm them down. Would you- would you be up for that? Oh, don't pick at-"

Her eyes snap down to find her fingers rubbing the pure bandage between her fingerprints. She looks at her hands with an odd distance, not quite feeling their actions, but recognizing they're there. She feels as if she's coming undone.

"Lead the way."

He frowns at her, eyes darting from her fingers to her eyes to her arm again, but he must think what he's asking in incredibly important because he just sighs and motions her after him.

She didn't think her day could last any longer, but somehow it finds its way. Finds it in her walking down aisles and aisles of cots. Finds it in her pressing her hands - broken from the nail to their ley lines - against clammy skin and murmuring things she doesn't think she believes in anymore. 

There's one, a kid no older than her , whose eye is just _gone_ and the other fogged up, and she tries her best, tries her damndest to keep it together, but a tear escapes her when she puts a hand on his chest as he cries out, about darkness and his bow and arrows and she breaks. It's a cold kind of shattering that she can't feel so much as taste, and it's all she can do to get through her final utterance, words verging on a prayer she doesn't believe in before she turns to Will.

His eyes are as bloodshot, shellshocked as hers, maybe more so, probably moreso, but as soon as the kid quiets down he motions her off, thanking her endlessly for her help.

"Don't mention it," she tells him, and she hopes her last hope that he understands. By the solemn nod he gives her, she thinks he does.

She trails back through the make-shift tents, back in the infirmary doors, passes the girl she did when she'd first walked in however long ago, realizes she's covered in blood and tears now and-

She walks straight out the front, her breath breaking in her chest.

"Drew? _Drew_." 

She turns her head to the side to find Mitchell, his face bloated from crying, her name once more on his lips. Not even minding her arm, she marches over, her feet stomping like they had for battle, and she roughly pulls him into a hug with her good arm around his neck.

"We've been looking everywhere for you," he sobs into her shoulder. "Val said she'd seen you after- after. But no one else could find you, they searched everywhere, I was so worried-" he choked off whatever ending he'd planned to that sentence, instead burying himself into the singed shoulder of her Camp shirt.

"The infirmary needed me. Have you done a head count? Do you know where everyone is?" She's not head counsellor anymore, but hierarchy be damned.

"You were the last duck for the row," he assures her. "Everyone's gathering back at the cabin, trying to regroup. We'd all already deployed for the day, but I don't know if most of them can even stay on their feet anymore."

"Let's go."

If you'd asked her point blank just one week ago her feelings on her bunk in the Aphrodite cabin, they'd be less than favorable. Downright nasty, depending on the exact day. But now her heart does its own storm surge up into her throat at the thought of being able to claim that space as her own.

She practically runs to the cabin, dragging Mitchell along beside her in the death grip of her good hand because she'll kick a god square in the stomach before she loses any of them from here on in, metaphorically or not. 

It's such a forceful ascent that they stumble in through the door, gaining the eyes of every single one of her siblings currently present. A couple of them fling from their beds, grabbing at Mitchell, grabbing - albeit easier - at her too. And she falls into them, lets herself have that one thing because she just wants to be wrapped up and held for a long, long time. And while she can't - can't _ever_ get to the arms she wants to be in again, she can be here, with and for her family, and she has to believe that's enough for now.

They all usher them to sit down - on someone's bunk that's not their own - but neither she nor Mitchell seem to mind, which means they're in the middle of a pile of blubbering kids before they even have time to blink. 

It feels good to cry. Surprising, actually. She didn't know she had that kind of energy left in her anymore. But she does and it- it feels like something for the first time in a while.

When she'd gotten back after her stint on Ogygia with- when she'd gotten back it felt like all she did was cry. All she did was lay in her bed and avoid her siblings and friends and _mourn_ like Death had visited her personally. 

Having now faced down Life and Death on her beloved - never admittedly - campgrounds, she realizes that what she was doing back then was a different breed all together, but no less horrific. 

Then, one day, something inside her snapped. She tore from her bed, cleaned it and fluffed it and lacquered herself until she was a sparkling steel and there was hardly any trace of her grief left to sniff out for any outsider. She folded that up like a paper crane and slipped it next to her heart.

Eventually, they all sober up, all finally lying still except for the sporadic jerking inhale so prevalent after a good sob. When one of them does another or three will reach a hand out, squeeze at whatever piece they can get ahold of before letting go just as fast.

She keeps repeating to herself that its enough. Living in her pain, though, she knows it isn't. As a daughter of the heart, she knows when romantic love best heals, and right now, it's all she wants. Not to fix her, but to keep her together (to cook her dinner and name the stars and hold her in soft arms) while she fixes herself. 

"Drew," Val asks softly from the other side of the bed, her voice raw. "How did it go?"

"How did what go?"

It's those four words, of all the sounds that have been spilled, that make them all sit straight up. All, of course, except for Drew.

"Someone told you, right? Someone told her, _right_?" Mitchell demands, every bit the lieutenant. She almost smiles.

"Told me what?" It's her own demand as she searches the faces around her.

"Oh gods," Val murmurs, her fingers encircling her mouth. "Oh gods."

"We need to go." Surprisingly, it's Lacy, who hasn't so much as peeped since Drew's seen her. "Now. Get up."

Her hand is small in Drew's, but it is so full of life. She counts that blessing next to the others she's scrounging together.

She doesn't ask for explanation, just lets herself be led by a girl a head shorter than her, their siblings following like a bad cold just behind them, she knows.

They tramp through patchy grass and dirt clods and this and that until they're on the doorstep of the Hephaestus cabin. The girl posted outside of the door almost looks relieved to see them.

"Go," Lacy urges, pushing Drew inside. "You'll know."

In all her years at Camp, Drew has never stepped foot in the Hephaestus cabin. It's brighter than she'd thought it would be. Lighter.

There's soot on the ground, but a broom and dust pan in the corner. Something smells a little burnt, but she can see a timer activated Febreze on a shelf in the corner. There are tools everywhere, but nothing's broken. Posters and plans and family photos. It's almost comfortable, almost pretty in a way she finds beautiful.

She doesn't know the name of the camper that sees her first, but she thinks he's new. She hates that this is what his first memory will be, of coils of smoke and the squalling cry of kids losing kids losing family. But his eyes, they still have hope, and when he sees her, they light.

"Drew Tanaka?" 

She simply nods, he doesn't really need the confirmation, but she figures it can't hurt to give it to him. 

"Come with me?" It's not so much a question, she thinks, as it is a bargain. She pays her toll and motions him ahead.

They trail farther down than she thought possible, thinks is even allowed. She wonders, in the back of her mind, if they've built on while Chiron turns away. Wonders if they want to do a little reno on the Aphrodite cabin because space is thinning with each new stiletto blade, and maybe they can make a nice display case.

"Leo," comes the kids voice where he's leading her. "Leo, dude, she's here."

"What?"

She stops herself from rolling her eyes at Valdez's voice, but it's habit, and she's already halfway through a rotation as is. Still, she eyes him as he looks up from the bunk below him, his eyes teary, but his chin still straight. He lifts a hand from the person beside him, from a white-cloth covered back, but Drew's mind is so wiped she doesn't even take them fully in. Afterall, it must be that Valdez needs her - must be something for Piper.

"She just fell asleep," he whispers, and Drew realizes she didn't even know that he could.

"Sorry, you said if we found her-"

"Nah, you're fine, thanks Ian."

"I'm just gonna go?"

Leo nods as his eyes slide over to Drew, his lips tucking slightly up. With that, Ian makez his exit, leaving them mostly alone at the end of the cabin.

"What's this about, Valdez? I'm exhausted and I have a cabin I need to be there for."

"She wanted to go to you, but we didn't know where you were, no one could find you, and she was already so drained from the trip." His hand stutters in the air, wanting to move back, but there was an odd look on his face, almost like he wasn't sure he should.

Her chest twists. "What are you talking abou-" 

He stands abruptly, moving out of her way so she can see the form in the bed. White cloth draped olden style, hair like a caramel macchiato. She can't see her face, but she knows she looks peaceful, remembers each line of her sleeping form and where they all fall into place.

"Calypso?" 

Drew's body catches in mid-air, lagging behind her thoughts until she wasn't sure she'd even be breathing if she there wasn't a physical motion to be counting on.

"She's not- she's here?"

Leo almost looks a little misty-eyed himself. "She's really drained, but I know she'd love to wake up to you, Tanaka."

"What did you do?" she asks, not full of an age old righteousness, not biting with malice, it's a soft question.

"What she asked me to do."

He leaves before she can get another word out, rubbing his fingers under his eyes as he leaves, explaining he'll stop by the Aphrodite cabin and let them know she's okay before he goes to find the rest of his crew. She doesn't get the chance to thank him.

Her hands are shaking as she makes her way forward to crouch beside the bed, fingers touching nothing more than bedspread as tears hit her face in quick succession. 

She'd had this dream so many times. Running across the length of camp to twirl her in her arms, looking up from her bunk to find her standing there, countless rom-com fueled scenarios that couldn't come true. Except apparently, they could.

And it sends aftershocks rocking through her body, because she tried, she tried so damn hard to get back to her, she nearly killed herself with trying and buried herself in want. But it hadn't been enough-

They had spoken, before she left Ogygia, had gone in and out about the terms of Calypso's banishment. They had talked until their eyes were raw and they couldn't talk about it anymore. Drew had pleaded, and Calypso had begged, and they had talked in circles until all they could do was make the most of the time they had, kiss until they could remember the feeling, smile until they forgot being sad.

She could still feel the kiss she had left Calypso with.

And once she'd gotten back to Camp, she'd enlisted Athenians and Apollites and Hephaestans, her iron fist trying to pave the road back to the love of her life, the girl she couldn't let go of even when Death was staring her in the face. She was older now, had seen Manhattan, had seen whatever the hell they would call this one, had lost, and lost, and embittered herself to the point of poison, but she couldn't forget.

She had begged to forget, sobbed on her knees to her mother for some kind of release, but she never got a reply. Unanswered prayers were a breaking point in themselves.

In the end, she found herself under the stars, hoping that Zoë Nightshade might carry her words upon her back. Praying that one day she might run wild and free with her, if only to shine on Ogygia again.

But that was- not long ago, but a tunneling, dark time in her life she didn't revisit. It isn't worth it, and now, now she is in front of the face she has been dreaming of for years, so close she can hear her breath and see the rise and fall of her chest.

It aches, oh gods above and below how it aches, but it's different this time.

"Calypso?" 

She speaks it softer than she's ever spoken anything in her life, equal parts fear and awe, fear of waking her before she's ready, and awe that she can say it and get a response. 

Calypso stirs, ever slightly, but it's enough to get Drew to reach out for her. The moment their skin makes contact, she shudders, one breath away from a heaving sob.

"Callie, it's me. It's Drew."

Her fingers curl fully around the warmth of her shoulder, and she feels another stirring, the shift of the bed, sees her head swivelling, and finally they are Drew and Calypso, a love that spited fate not once, but infinitely.

"Drew?" she whispers. "Am I- am I still dreaming?"

All Drew can do is shake her head no, her lips have stopped moving and her heart is bump, pump, thumping too hard for her to do much of anything else except try to see through her wet eyes.

"They could not find you," Calypso says, and that's when Drew registers the red rims of her eyes and the rawness of her cheeks. "They said that you might have-"

Drew cuts her off, throwing her arms around her and pulling her close. Calypso's back is pressed against her chest, the former's heartbeat steady against the latter's.

"I can't believe you're here," Drew heaves out. "I can't-"

Calypso fumbles to spin in her arms, pushing against her until her nose is brushing the skin of her cheek and they're slipping toward the ground together.

"I was so scared," she says. "I was so scared, and they made me rest, said I was no good to you dead on my feet, but I wanted to find you, I wanted to come find you the moment we arrived."

"I know, I know. Are you- you're okay? Your immortality, Calypso-"

"I don't want it. I never wanted it, but I was too scared to reject it until the most amazing girl crash-landed on my island, and she made me realize there was life with an ending. And I want that ending, I want the beginning and the middle- I want you. I've always wanted you." Her voice snaps, a grateful sob rising up as she twists her fingers into the shoulders of Drew's day-stale t-shirt.

Drew's words are whispered into the side of her head, syllables like clips amongst spiralling hair. "When I was a kid I prayed every night to my mother to find you, and then I grew up, and I saw so many terrible things, and I stopped praying. But I never stopped hoping. Nineteen years, and I never stopped hoping for you."

They cling to one another, two girls on a moonless lake, no guide to lead them through the new world they're entering. But they have one another, against Life and Death and Fate. They are the odds and they are the besting of them. 

They fold together, Drew kneeing her way onto the bed to hold her closer, to keep them both comfortable. It's been a long day, will be a long time before things are even near okay, but they'll make it out together.

☆♡

They sleep for fourteen hours straight, one regaining a strength she thought she'd left behind on a little island in the middle of Nowhere, and the other building her resolve for a life she never thought she'd be allowed to live.

When they wake, they cry once more, holding to ome another until their muscles are weak. They will have a whole life together, this they know, but they still mourn for the trail behind them that put them where they are.

They spend the day with palms pressed together, moving through camp as if they are two parts finally reunited. And maybe they are. Because they had been whole before they crashed into one another's lives, but when they parted, they took something of the other with them. 

After a day of grief-stricken quiet, of standing at the rights for every fallen hero, of pulling together and melding into a clan of loving and lovely children who greet Calypso as if she is their newest recruit, the two depart together, moving hand in hand down to the lake.

The water calms Calypso, something familiar and yet still brand new. She has so much to learn, so much to take in and process, but she still has the water and the stars and Drew, and it's enough to keep her grounded.

Having long discarded her dress for something clean and more negotiable, she has to roll her pants legs up before she kicks her feet into the tide of the lake. Drew parks herself just beside her, her own toes tickling the water as Calypso leans her head against her shoulder.

"I spoke to her every night for a year, no matter where I was," Drew says, knowing Calypso will understand. "Hoping you'd somehow hear me. The only reason I stopped was because Mitchell begged me to, I was driving myself- into the ground, and he couldn't watch me do it anymore."

Calypso's frown in evident against her shoulder, and she presses a soft, reassuring kiss there. These things need to be said, and she knows the only solace is to offer a bit of herself. "I couldn't for the longest time, not after I found out who she was, but I would look up at her, and I would hope she was watching over you, maybe help me get back to you one day. We followed her lead the whole way home."

"When the Hunters come back through, we could see if they'd want to do something for her. I'm sure they'd love to meet you."

"I'd like that."

They're quiet after that, only moving to face one another for the first kiss they have shared in years. A sweet, secret thing for their mending hearts only.

Above them, a constellation in the shape of a huntress, her body as strong and even as her bow, winks down at them before darting off for that night's hunt.

**Author's Note:**

> im on tumblr @wlwshehulk !!!


End file.
